1/17/2019 0 Comments The disciples had it so easy I don't know about you, but when I think about the disciples, I can't help but feel a little bit jealous of them. I mean, Jesus was right there. They didn't have to wonder about things, they could just go ahead and ask Him (His answers might be cryptic, but still). They didn't have to wonder if he was legit, they were with him all of the time, they could see Him performing miracles and hear the voice of God saying "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased." But more than that, they got to hang out with the creator of the universe. Like, just imagine not being able to sleep one night and going to sit and look up at the stars with the one who made them. Imagine getting to just be with the person who loves you unconditionally, who loves you so much that He won't let even the power of death and sin separate you. Imagine being loved that much by someone who you could see, and hear, and touch. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Is it any wonder that people like Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) just want to sit at Jesus' feet in awe? I would too!
At the Mass, we encounter Jesus in three places. Your kids (and everyone I’ve ever posed this question to) get two of them right off the bat. The first is the Eucharist. We believe that those wafers and wine are transformed into the physical Body and Blood of Christ. The second that everyone guesses right off the bat is in the Liturgy of the Word (the readings). Jesus is called “the word” multiple times in Scripture (See John, Chapter 1) and we believe that in listening to the Scripture reading we are encountering Jesus’ voice. But the third is the place where we always get tripped up when we ask this question. The third place is in each other. Why, I have often wondered, is this the place that gets forgotten? Why is this the place we have the hardest time recognizing, or at least knowing on an intellectual level, that Jesus is present in at Mass? I’ve reflected on this a fair amount since the first time I posed the questions (last year to some of the Middle School students at OLP School). The answer, I think, is that we do not have a full grasp of the theology of the Incarnation and what that means in our lives. For many, the incarnation (at its core) is understood this way: Jesus came down from heaven to be born in human form. That human form walked the earth for 30 years, then He suffered and died to save us from our sins. Then He ascended into Heaven. And that, in a nutshell, is it.Those things are all true, but the incarnation is bigger than that. The truth of the incarnation is that God became man but when He ascended into heaven, He didn’t just go home to heaven and leave us here. He stayed with us. Through the gift of the Eucharist and the working of the Holy Spirit in each of us, we become the Body of Jesus; in other words, Christ is incarnate in us. The New Testament sort of beats us over the head with this message; read Galatians, Corinthians, Romans, 1 Peter, Ephesians, Colossians, Thesolonians, or Hebrews- you’ll find what it means to be the Body of Christ in each of those books. Being the Body of Christ means speaking words of encouragement and kindness, it means speaking to people in words they can understand, it means healing, it means guiding and teaching, it means serving, it means loving; in short, it means using the varied gifts God has given each of us for the edification of one another. Mass is the ultimate form of worship, it is where we come to experience His perfect sacrifice of love, where we come to hear his voice, and where we come to stand face to face with Him. Mass is the point from which everything in our lives should flow because it is here that we are gifted with the things we need to fulfill our missions every day. It is here that we receive the grace to go out and fight the good fight. Mass is where Christ becomes incarnate in us and thus is able to reach out and touch the world, to be present to people in the same way that He was present to His disciples and the world around Him 2000 years ago. I’d like to leave you with the words of Teresa of Avila and I pray they both challenge and bless you this week: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” Peace, Michaela
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